Family Ties and Fabric Tales from the Teaching Tolerance Website
I discovered this lesson while searching for ideas about celebrating diversity and tolerance. I love this lesson because it allows students a chance to read various stories about other people's family history then encourages them to become historians and research their history. The end product is a nine patch quilt that represents each students family history. The lesson provides opportunities for oral presentations which defines the concept of oral histories for the students and the part they play in literature. It includes a classroom map for students to mark where they are from--very similar to what we did with Faces of Philo last year. Technology isn't directly mentioned in the lesson, but it would be easy to integrate using digital cameras, or publishing programs to design the nine square quilts. For enrichment, teachers could allow students to make their own PhotoStory highlighting their family history. It would be a wonderful heirloom for the student and could be displayed on the big TV for the World of Philo or highlighted on the teacher's website. Check out this lesson....

Family Ties and Fabric Tales.doc You may want to use the following resources to complete the assignment as well: family_datasheet_for Family Ties Lesson.pdf and NinePatchQuiltBlock for Family Ties Lesson.pdf